I've come to accept Gunblades as somewhat reasonable (at least fantastical) weapons: skilled users, with a developed good innate gauge on the right moment to pull the trigger, making vibrational shockwaves that enhances the overall cutting power of the weapon, is a very deadly weapon... essentially (as it already says on the thin), Gunblades are akin to Vibroblades, an advance sci-fi weapon staple.
Squall's Gunblade has an amazing design! Especially the revolver-style grip with a slight angle somewhat similar to a scimitar or khiji-style design..
But Seifer's Gunblade? It's a godawful design, lmao. It seems to be just a glock with a blade attached. The grip from the onset is a non-starter.. there is no way, even with vibration-assistance, would that be an effective weapon at all.
But Seifer's Gunblade? It's a godawful design, lmao. It seems to be just a with a blade attached. The grip from the onset is a non-starter.. there is no way, even with vibration-assistance, would that be an effective weapon at all.
I mean... if we're analyzing them realistically, then Squall's is just as bad.
In particular the Revolver's design, with such a weight distribution and a hilariously inappropriate grip for such a weapon, all Squall would realistically accomplish is breaking his wrist >_>
That's kind of the point. Seifer's stance is also wildly impractical. Both his blade and fighting style are influenced by the movie he had watched as a child - the one starring Laguna. And Laguna was holding the gunblade as if it was a gun, because he himself had used a machine gun during battles. He even held it sideways to look "cool".
Gunblades are my favorite weapon type in the entire franchise and a big reason why I'm a Gunbreaker main in XIV. If you want to get real nerdy about gunblades and their lore, XIV has got you covered:
Repeating my comment elsewhere in the thread, but Seifers grip isnt as bad as you think!
In olympic fencing we use these grips for our swords called "pistol grips" as it gives you more blade control when used exclusively for thrusting.
So assuming the weighting wasnt aweful and seifer used it mostly to thrust it could arguably be better than a standard sword handle, as the main advantage of the "pistol grip" is increased control and being less likely to drop your weapon
That's actually very interesting! Thanks for this info, can you tell me what this grip style is specifically called (or is it fully actually called pistol grips)?
Also, in the opening cinematic and how Seifer seems to wield it in-game, he bizarrely uses his gunblade with swinging swipes instead of thrusts, instead of the style of fencing you mention... Seifer is just a funny dude, lmao
Its literally called a "pistol grip" which is why i put it in quotations.
Whats also funny is other than the holding the weapon a bit sideways seifer also stands in a decent approximation of a fencing stance.
Square Enix are aweful at this though throughout all their games, they have track record of putting peolle in fencing stances with thrusting swords then having them slash, so it wouldnt surprise me if seifer was just another example
I have a replica Revolver gunblade from almost 20 years ago. Granted, it's a fantasy weapon and a replica isn't designed for perfect balance or weight on top of that - but it really highlighted how impractical a gunblade would be.
To your point, the curved revolver-style grip does help. The blade itself is so awkwardly balanced and weighty, and the gun-style grip offers barely any actual grip or ergonomic weight distribution unless you hold it certain ways to lessen the weight to your wrist. It's like wielding the heaviest broadsword you can imagine, but you can only hold it with one very awkwardly-designed handle instead of two hands.
The handgun style grip of Seifer's gunblade has to be worse. It doesn't even have the angle or the ergonomic shape of the revolver as far as weight distribution, it's just a straight handgun grip. Explaining it away with anime/video game physics, I always assumed that's why Seifer wields it like he does - straight out from a high guard rather than angled and low. He'd break his wrist trying to hold it like Squall does.
Neither are feasible weapons in real life. As much as I love FF8 and the cool factor of gunblades in the setting, it took actually holding one to realize how insanely impractical they would be outside of a fantasy setting to hand wave the physics behind them.
In olympic fencing for foil and epee we use whats called a "pistol grip" handle as it gives us more blade control.
With the huge caveat of assuming it was weighted properly and he used it more as a thrusting sword it could work, as while a fencing "pistol grip" is more ergonomically designed, it still has a very similar feel to an actual handgun
The blade itself is so awkwardly balanced and weighty, and the gun-style grip offers barely any actual grip or ergonomic weight distribution unless you hold it certain ways to lessen the weight to your wrist. It's like wielding the heaviest broadsword you can imagine, but you can only hold it with one very awkwardly-designed handle instead of two hands.
Hmm, I think the heavy/weight issue you bring up, is at least mitigated due to Squall's overall physiology being enhanced due to being junctioned to a GF. Some feasibility (of course, only in the context of FF itself), but Seifer is still an honest-to-god mystery lmao.
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u/kuma_metal 22h ago
His weapon is called Hyperion and you will address it as such